


Walking Revelations

by aheartbeatlikehurricanes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M, ereri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 17:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8110840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aheartbeatlikehurricanes/pseuds/aheartbeatlikehurricanes
Summary: Levi was all ice.  Cold shoulders that stood as barriers that morphed into cold stone, wrapping around his ribs and holding like a shield, protecting his heart.  Cool indifference and an icy gaze to match the frozen spikes he kept around him at all times.  No one could come too close, so he lashed out with the fury of a blizzard; unforgiving, uncaring, and final.
But as he had said before: Eren was hot.  Warm, sunny smiles and a heat that seared through his bones and made his blood boil. A fire was kept in his eyes and warm embers crackled in his heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So… hi. I’m new. I’m not new to writing or anything (I write for a different fandom, mostly) but I really really loved this ship, so I created a blog. (You guys have so much fanfiction already oh God why am I here again?) BUT I wanted to post some of my own stuff because… well, why not? So, for those of you who read this: I hope you enjoy! Please don’t be afraid to come and correct any of my mistakes because no, I didn’t edit this because I didn’t think anyone would read it. Also, it’s a bit longer than I intended for it to be, I’m sorry. I began to do something else, but then it seemed to drag on and I just started rambling? I don’t know.
> 
> In addition: No, I haven’t quite hit my stride with this ship and no, I don’t have that great of a grasp on the characters, so it’s probably terribly inaccurate and ooc, but I hope you like it anyway.
> 
> Note: I worked in a bar for a while and I can not bring myself to spell it as ‘Yaeger’ I have to spell it as ‘Jaeger’ my apologies.

Levi twitched as he watched Eren walk out of his office and head off to do whatever he did in his spare time.  It wasn’t Levi, so he wasn’t all too concerned.  


He sighed, annoyed at himself for the stray thought.  He took a sip of the tea Eren had brought him and winced.  It was still a bit hot and he could feel it as it scorched his tongue and inflamed his throat.

Heat.  Heat always reminded him of Eren, the man who was all blazing flames and fiery passion.

Levi wasn’t fucking stupid. He knew.  Of course he knew, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it.

Five years.  Five long, sorrow laced, hate drenched years and the bratty teen had grown into a young man.  

Well, Levi couldn’t classify him as “young” really.  He had felt the heat of a comrade’s blood splash onto his skin, seen the light in a man’s eyes turn dim, watched his enemies fall but also stand victorious. He had seen battles won and battles lost.  He wasn’t young, he was a seasoned soldier with just as many scars etched into his skin as everyone else.  

He had not been a coward. He was not alive because he had run, he was alive because he fought with every breath he had and clawed his way into Levi’s heart.

Levi wasn’t a moron. He fucking knew that.  Knew that the once sniveling brat had grown into a tough and completely capable man and he didn’t necessarily need Levi anymore.

But Eren had kept him around anyway.

Levi considered himself still young.  He could still move with grace and ease, he could still keep up with Eren and even best him in certain areas.  

Eren would always be humanity’s hope, but Levi, ten years his senior, would always be humanity’s strongest.  

Sure, Eren was much taller and broader than him-the wide expanse of his chest and the hulk of his shoulders was nothing to sneeze at- but Levi could still take him down without too much of a hassle.  

And no, contrary to popular to belief, it wasn’t because Eren “took pity on him” and “went easy on the old man” it was because Levi could still kick his teeth in if he wanted to.

Some of the newer recruits usually needed to be taught this, especially if they had seen Levi and Eren together. 

He could simply be speaking with Eren about something, or eating with him, or sparring, and a new recruit who thought he was hot shit would get a swift but precise boot to the face when he started talking shit.  

Actually talking shit. Seriously.  To Levi of all fucking people.

Regardless, he sat in his office, zoning out and wondering, not for the first time, why they had not moved Eren into another, more important position.  

Hanji’s voice popped into his head, “It’s because you two work so well together!  You should see you two fight side by side, it’s really something to behold!  We can’t separate humanity’s strongest team.  Besides, you would pout for months and I really don’t know if I could handle that.”

Levi shook his head, trying to rid his thoughts of her voice, and glared into his cold tea. Levi didn’t pout.  And he certainly did not pout over Eren fucking Jaeger.

But he did.

He sighed, put his tea down, and rested his head in his hands.  She was right, damn her.  He, Levi, humanity’s strongest, would fucking _pout_ if he had to be away from _Eren fucking Jaeger_ for too long.

He sighed louder and let his head bang onto his desk.  Fucking fuck. He hated it when Hanji was right. It just wasn’t fair.  He hadn’t meant to fall for the dumbass man-child.  It just sort of… sort of happened.

Levi was all ice.  Cold shoulders that stood as barriers that morphed into cold stone, wrapping around his ribs and holding like a shield, protecting his heart.  Cool indifference and an icy gaze to match the frozen spikes he kept around him at all times.  No one could come close, so he lashed out with the fury of a blizzard; unforgiving, uncaring, and final.

But as he had said before: Eren was hot.  Warm, sunny smiles and a heat that seared through his bones and made his blood boil. A fire was kept in his eyes and warm embers crackled in his heart.  

An angry Eren was beautiful and terrifying all at once.  An all-consuming fire that melted and burned into cinders anything or anyone that stood in his path.

Of course it was too easy for his warmth to melt Levi’s chill.

They came together in lukewarm contentment and happiness. It was unintentional, but they had this natural pull toward each other that they had been dancing around since they met.

Since the very first time Levi had stood before what then was a child, he had felt it.  The crack and crumble of his carefully placed spikes and his carefully carved barrier begin to break and melt.  He couldn’t help but wonder if Eren had felt it too. Could feel his heat be soothed and calmed by the glacier of a man that stood before him.

“Sir!”

His head snapped up and, to his utter humiliation, a small slip of paper that he was using to take notes when he _was_ working stuck to the side of his face.

He snatched it off and looked over toward the voice that had summoned him.

“Did you not like the tea, sir?” Eren asked, looking as if he was trying not to laugh.  He bit his bottom lip and Levi had never been so tempted to lean over and soothe the little imprints his teeth made with his tongue.

Whoa there.  Chill out, Levi.  No assaulting the titan shifter.  Probably a bad idea.  Down boy.

“It was passable.”

“It is getting late, sir. Perhaps you should turn in for the night.”

He wasn’t four fucking years old, he knew when he could go to bed. “I was only thinking, Jaeger.  I’m nowhere near tired enough to sleep at the moment.  Make yourself useful and prepare another cup of tea.  Make sure this one is worth a shit.”

Eren bit his bottom lip again, still trying - and failing - to keep the amusement from his face. “Yes sir.”

When he returned, Levi was actually engrossed in his work.  Eren placed the tea gently on the edge of his desk and went to stand just behind Levi to his left.  

Levi, distracted as always when Eren was moving around like he had no idea the effect he had on him, watched as he propped himself up against the wall and stared at the door on the other side of the room, content to stand in silence and shift through his thoughts.

It had become a ritual of sorts for them.  Eren liked spending most of his time in that position, just over Levi’s shoulder.  He had no idea why if he was being honest with himself, but he did enjoy the quiet, still, warm, company.  He supposed it had something to do with the fact that even after five years, Levi was still the one in charge of him and the one that had been closest to him.  

Levi could understand Eren’s struggle a tad better than most because he had been at his side as he watched the past few years unfold.  Had seen the sheer torture in his eyes as he was betrayed, the sorrow as we watched a friend die, the happiness when a mission had gone successfully and everyone went home happy and healthy and in one piece.

He had watched him grow stronger as a titan, a soldier, and a man.

It was usually silent.  Levi would continue working diligently –he was going to have crippled and deformed hands from writing so much when he was old- and Eren would either stand or sit in his spot.  Sometimes he would grab one of Levi’s books to amuse himself, and they would sit in silent contentment until late into the night.

While Levi appreciated the silence most of the time, his thoughts prickled underneath his skin and moved along his bones in anxious scribbles.   He almost wanted to go for a jog to clear himself of the jittery movements he felt.

Leaning back in his chair, he considered the option seriously.  A little walk around the grounds at night wouldn’t be so awful. He would love to see the stars.

“Eren.”

“Sir?” He walked over to the edge of his desk, awaiting instruction.

“Walk with me.”

Eren blinked for a minutes and an unchecked “Right now?” slipped past his lips before he could filter it.

“Yes, you idiot, now.” Levi pushed out of his chair, stuffed his feet into his boots, and slid out into the hallway.  He pretended to be unaware of the frantic shuffling and the quick boot steps that caught up to him as he stepped out of the front door and into the moonlight.

The pair walked some ways into the forest, following the path that had been carved into the dirt by the hooves of the hundreds of horses that had walked it.  

He tipped his head back to look up at the stars.  They glimmered as they peaked through the overhead branches, winking and laughing at Levi as he walked along, still aware of the hulking shadow that trailed after him.

“Levi.”  Ah.  There it was.

Eren spoke his name, and that was a whole conversation in itself.  It was a sort of code.  When Eren addressed him with his name, he was not speaking to him as a solider, he was speaking to him as a person, a friend.  

Levi grunted, letting the other man know he was listening.

“I don’t know what to say.”

…

Levi slowly turned to face Eren. He raised an eyebrow and stared, hoping to convey his message of ‘Then why the hell did you call my name?’

“No!  I’m awful at this, I’m sorry, but I just um… I know what to say but don’t know how to say it?”

He looked so confused, as if he were fighting an inner battle. Levi kind of wanted to wrap his arms around him and smooth the worried crinkle of his brow.

He really needed to stop all the runaway thoughts, it was getting out of hand.

“I hope you don’t think I’m going to play charades with you.”

Eren blinked at him a few times before going a bit pink, probably imagining the scene Levi just suggested. “No!  Ah, no. I just, um… give me a few moments to think.”

With that be breezed past Levi and began to speed walk farther into the woods.

Levi stood still for a moment and assessed the situation.  What, exactly, could Eren say to him that he couldn’t just spit out? He seemed to never have a problem with it before.  He normally just spilled whatever nonsense came to his brain.  No filter.  Though, he had to admit that Eren had gotten better at holding his tongue through the years.

Before Levi could take a step, Eren stopped.  

Levi cocked his head to the side and watched as Eren spun back around, took a deep breath, and marched right back to him.

“Are you having a mental breakdown, Eren?”

He seemed to ponder the question for a moment, “I don’t think so.”

Levi stared at him, willing to wait for the other man’s brain to work out what it needed.  

While he waited, his imagination seemed to run wild.  What could he say?  His wondering thoughts were being fueled by how close Eren stood to him.  The heat seemed to roll off of the shifter in waves and it melted Levi’s frigid stance until his skin sizzled.  

Eren sighed, catching his attention, “I guess I’ll just… spit it all out.”

Levi crossed his arms and braced himself.

“You’re kind of hot. Did you know that?”

Levi leaned back slightly, surprised.  That had _not_ been what he was expecting.  No, he was not hot.  Cold.  Cold cold _cold_.  That was what he was.  Eren was the one made of volcanic rock and lava.

As an answer to Levi’s silence, Eren took a deep breath and began to ramble, “I mean are you serious? How do you not know?  We have mirrors and everything.  I know you can see in them because I fucking clean them. You’re hot.  But that’s not really what this is about.  I’m not going to go into declarations of love or anything, even though I think this is what this feeling is.    I don’t feel this with anyone else and I’ve felt this since I was fifteen years old and I lifted my head and you spoke to me for the first time. I’ve been tiptoeing around you forever, keeping-“

“Eren.”

“-whatever the fuck this is from you.  I mean fuck, I know you don’t want some brat to be the one you come back for every time you leave the walls but I’m right here and I’m always right here and I’m never going to leave because fuck you, okay?  I have some sort of… connection? To you?  What?  Why? And you’re… teasing me?  Is that what you’re doing?  You knew the whole time, didn’t you?”

“Eren.”

“-Like look around! Taking walks in the middle of the night? Do you know how fucking good you look when the moonlight hits you like that and the fucking starlight dances across your skin and damn you, Levi what the fuck?  What?  The Fuck? Oh, please feel free to fucking stop me because I’m going to keep going until I pass out or you stop me or I have a fucking aneurism.  I just can’t fucking believe-“

“Eren.”

“-that you would pull this shit on me.  Like, wow, when did-“

“Shut the fuck _up,_ Eren.”

Clicking his teeth together, Eren brought a hand up to his face to cover his blushing cheeks.  

Dead silence rang out while Levi tried to process everything that he had just heard from the fumbling brunette.

Wait.  Wait.  Hold the fuck on.  Love. He said the word ‘love’ didn’t he? He loved Levi?

“You.  You what?”  When Eren opened his mouth to respond, Levi jumped to interrupt him, “No no, don’t answer that, I’m working through the jumbled mess you just sprayed at me.”

After taking a few moments more to process things, Levi, voice soft for what was probably the first time in his life, said, “Eren, you… love me?”

Eren jerked back as if Levi had physically struck him, “I um… yeah.  But it doesn’t have to mean anything!  I can go on with how life is now and ignore it!”

“But you love me.”

“I don’t need anything, I can just go on bringing you tea and sitting in your office with you and we can fight titans together and still be humanity’s perfect team.”

“But you love me.”

“I- I really don’t want to leave your side, okay?  That’s why I haven’t told you.  I don’t know why I did tonight if I’m honest, it just sort of slipped out!”

“But you love me.”

“Yes, Levi.  I love you.  You don’t have to love me, but I’m staying by your side.  Even if you pretend I’m not there, I’ll be there anyway, always over your shoulder.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

…

…

An animal rustled the nearby bushes and Levi thought that Eren was taking a tremendously long time to work things out in his head.  

“Levi,” he began after an excruciating silence, “what do you feel?”

Levi knew it was his turn now, but he wasn’t like Eren, he was his polar opposite in every way.  He hoped the man before him knew how to fill in the blanks and read between the lines.

Levi knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could.

“You’re one of the two people left that I trust.  You are always by my side, and I hope you’ll stay there.  I don’t want you to go, either.”

Levi hoped Eren got the message ‘I love you too, you idiot.’

Eren stood very still for a few moments until what Levi meant seemed to register with him.  He then shook his head and stepped forward, standing toe to toe with the older man. He reached out and placed a hand- when had his hands gotten so huge? - against the base of Levi’s neck.  Levi reached up with his right hand and gently pressed his palm to the nape of Eren’s neck.

Sensitive and vulnerable spots for the both of them, places other people would never even dream of touching, yet they stood and let one another do what they wished.

With the skin of Eren’s hand on him, Levi felt his heart melt, his blood boil, and his chest burst into flames of emotion.  He hoped that Eren felt the cool touch, felt his heart freeze in place, his blood rush cool, and his eyes frost over.

Levi wasn’t very good at relationships, then again, neither was Eren, but they were both certain of their ability to handle one another.  

When Eren ducked to place a small, chaste, terrified kiss on his waiting lips, Levi felt the lukewarm happiness tumble through him once again.  

Eren made to pull away, but Levi pulled him back, demanding the heat that was so near him for so long.


End file.
